


Lifeline

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [67]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Banter, Canon Disabled Character, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fade to Black, Getting Together, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, IronStrange Bingo 2019, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic, Meditation, One-Sided Attraction, Protective Tony Stark, Sexy Times, Soul Bond, Stephen Strange Bingo 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 23:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19451887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: "It's a date."After agreeing to go on a date with Tony Stephen gets kidnapped by Mordo's followers. Leaving Tony and Wong in a desperate race against time to save him before it's too late.





	Lifeline

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aelaer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelaer/gifts).



> @ironstrangebingo prompt: _Tie_ | @stephenstrangebingo prompt: _Slow Burn_ | @badthingshappenbingo prompt: _Hand Stomp_ (I'm so, so sorry Stephen, honey!)
> 
> Please remember that I only do happy ends and enjoy the road to get there! 💞 (A link to the prompts who inspired this and further notes can be found at the end.)

_You don't have to be a ghost_  
_Hidden amongst the living_  
_You are flesh and blood_  
_And you deserve to be loved_  
_And you deserve what you are given_

 _~ Third Eye,_ Florence + The Machine

"Tomorrow?" It was stupid but Tony held his breath while he was waiting for Stephen's answer.

"Tomorrow," Stephen confirmed with a shy smile that made a million butterflies appear in Tony's stomach. He still had his hands hidden in the folds of his robe and Tony was disappointed that he'd only gotten to see a glimpse of them this evening.

He wanted to see them, inspect them, hold them, kiss them. Tell Stephen that it was okay, that he could show them and didn't need to be afraid of them. He wanted so many things. Hold Stephen, feed him until he looked healthier and stronger, talk with him about so much more than magic versus science, peppered with a little bit of banter and the barest hint of something deeper, more personal.

He wanted Stephen. Period. No way around it. But every time he dared to push a little bit too much into that direction Stephen closed up like a clam and fled at the very first opportunity. It broke Tony's heart to see the growing loneliness and pain in his eyes and have every offer of help rebuffed with a sad shake of the head and an even sadder smile.

He didn't know why Stephen ran away from him while still seeking him out on a semi-regular basis. What he _did_ know was that Stephen looked at him the same way he looked at him. It should have been so easy. It was the hardest thing in the world.

Tony took a deep breath and tried again. "Dinner? Before we go over the new plans? Nothing fancy, just…"

"Yes," Stephen interrupted, still with that endearing, shy smile on his lips. "That sounds wonderful."

The urge to reach out and hold and kiss grew stronger but Tony withstood it somehow. He was playing the long game now. "Anything special you'd like?"

Stephen froze for a moment before he seemed to come to a decision. He held out his hands for a moment before hiding them again. "Something than can be eaten without cutlery?" he requested softly and Tony's heart broke all over again.

"Of course. Pizza okay?"

Stephen smiled at that. "I love pizza."

Tony was once again captivated by how his eyes changed color depending on lightning. This moment they were grey when they been blue a second before. Fascinating. Beautiful. Tony wanted to investigate this incredible phenomenon in greater detail. _Focus, man!_ he admonished himself and wrenched his thoughts back from the path of daydreams.

"Great. So do I. It's a…" _date_ he'd wanted to say but it was too soon for that. No more spooking the wizard by being too forward, he'd promised himself.

Stephen grinned at him and nodded. "It is." He also very carefully didn't say the word. "Looking forward to it."

"Yeah."

Tony watched as Stephen conjured a portal with practiced movements and no traces of pain on his face. He still flinched when the damn magic thing flared to life but constant exposure had made the panic attacks recede and replaced them with a healthy dose of respect mixed with only a trace of fear.

Stephen noticed his reaction of course and as always looked saddened by it. No matter how hard they tried to fuse tech and magic together, Tony would probably never be really comfortable with that particular aspect of Stephen's life.

"Tomorrow," Stephen said again in farewell.

"Goodbye," Tony said instead of the _take care_ that wanted to slip out. "Good night." _And please, for the love of everything, sleep. You look so exhausted lately._

Stephen just nodded and stepped through the portal. His cloak waved Tony goodbye and then the portal was closed and Stephen was gone.

Tony took a deep breath to savor the last of his scent still lingering in the air while he absently played with Stephen's abandoned and empty mug.

"It's a date." He tried the words out loud and smiled. Finally, after all that waiting and weeks of careful maneuvering. It would be the beginning of a courtship that would undoubtedly take quite a while and he was determined to enjoy every single second of it.

*

Two days later he looked in horror at a screenshot of Stephen's beaten and bruised faced, complete with a bloody cut from his left temple down to almost his chin. I ran dangerously close to his left eye, which was swollen shut and Tony had no doubt that he couldn't see out of it anymore.

"Stephen," he whispered while Rhodey and Pepper stood near him in support.

Apart from a shocked gasp from Pepper and a quiet but heartfelt "Fuck!" from Rhodey there hadn't been any other words ever since FRIDAY had projected the damn thing into the middle of the room.

 _Why? Who? Where?_ So many questions but they all jumbled together in his mind and he couldn't bring himself to shatter the shocked silence with them.

"Stephen," he said again instead, almost choking on his tears. He looked up at Wong, the one who had brought the broken phone from which FRIDAY had extracted the picture, and hoped that the man could somehow _feel_ \- and answer - the myriad of questions burning inside of him.

Instead there was a shrug. "Stephen didn't come back to the Sanctum after he left you and after a few hours I began to search for him."

"I don't understand why you didn't call me sooner," Tony complained once again. "We, I, could have…"

Another shrug. "Why should I? Chances where he was just waylaid by something. I didn't suspect anything until he didn't show up in the morning. At which point I _did_ call you, remember?"

Tony did. Vividly. The stoic, grave voice on the phone that told him that Stephen hadn't come home and did he know anything about it? He didn't imagine the hope in Wong's voice that Stephen had just stayed over for the night and had forgotten to tell him about it.

Instead he'd gotten Tony's panic.

"And it wouldn't have changed anything," Wong said much gentler. "By that time he was already taken."

And now, after hours of searching and magic chanting, this: A broken phone out of a back alley from which FRIDAY managed to extract that one single photo.

Tony cleared his throat and forced himself to look at the grim picture once again. "FRI? Anything else on that thing?"

"No, boss. If it where one of ours I could probably recover the whole contents but since it's an inferior model…"

Stephen was hurt, out there in the hands of some sick bastards who apparently delighted not only in beating people up but enjoyed hurting them on a far deeper level, judging by his face. Damage like that was deliberate.

"Why didn't he fight back? He held up the fucking _ocean_ , for crying out loud, he should have managed to deal with a few run-of-the-mill idiots who jumped him on the street."

"There's nothing ordinary about his kidnappers," Wong said tiredly. He gestured to the tiny bit of Stephen's right wrist that was visible on the edge of the picture. It was encircled in something black and heavy looking that made Tony shudder. "See that? I know those things. Cuffs that suppress magic. They were stolen from Kamar-Taj a couple of years ago. If they surprised him and managed to get them on him in the beginning he didn't have a chance."

Since Stephen's hands were pretty much useless without magic keeping them somewhat functioning and he was already tired and exhausted before he left Tony… it was not only possible it was probable.

"So one of yours has him?"

Wong grimaced and that much emotion from the man made Tony even more nervous and afraid than he already was. "I have a theory."

"Hit us," Rhodey broke in. "It can't get worse than it already is."

"We'll get him back," Pepper whispered into Tony's ear at the same time and put an arm around him in an attempt to give comfort. "It's going to be okay."

Tony only wished that he could believe her. Nothing could ever be okay, not when he had to look at Stephen looking like that.

Was it really only not even two days ago that he fantasized about holding Stephen's hands? Now he wanted nothing more than to be reassured that Stephen could still _see_.

"I just want him back," he whispered and Pepper hugged him tighter in an attempt to comfort him. "Who?" he asked much louder, leaning into the contact and wishing it was Stephen wo held him.

Wong hesitated. "What has Stephen told you about how he came to Kamar-Taj?"

Tony frowned. _What the hell? Random much?_ "Not much. He went there after exhausting every other avenue. He told me that your lot literally saved his life if not his sanity." _Only to take it over and over again._ That horrifying truth had slipped out one evening after one glass of wine too many and Tony's view of Stephen had never been the same again and his need to protect him had only grown from then on. Stephen was so _tired_ of everything, Tony had realized that night.

A snicker from Rhodey and something approaching a smile from Wong. Okay.

"Did he ever tell you who found him and brought him to us?"

"A Lady?" Tony guessed, thinking about few things Stephen had told over the last few months. "Called The Ancient One? Great name, by the way. Big fan."

Wong waved that away. "No, she was the one who accepted him in. Karl Mordo was the one who found him on the streets of Kathmandu after some thieves beat him up."

"He was beaten up?"

"Not that badly, Mordo took care of them rather quick. His watch was broken in that incident."

Oh, that one. The Jaeger-LeCoultre. Tony had wondered, actually, but so far there hadn't been the chance to ask about it. The thought of gifting Stephen with a new one had flittered across his mind from time to time but now he knew that he would never do it. The image of Stephen, helpless and vulnerable, being jumped and beaten up made him want to throw up.

"So this Mordo is a friend, yes?" Why hadn't he heard of him so far? Where had the guy been when Stephen needed every friend he had in his life? "What has that to do with… that?" He gestured to the still projected image and was once again caught in the tiny details of Stephen's face. His beautiful face. His _eye_.

_Please, let him be okay, you Vish-wash whatever he always talks about._

"Was," Wong corrected grimly. "There was a… disagreement between Stephen and him and he has left Kamar-Taj and searched out a few like-minded people in the years since."

"Like-minded?"

"People who think that there are too many magic users out there in the world."

Wong didn't have to say anything more; the implications were crystal clear. "And those people torture sorcerers for what? A good time? Because they're sadists?"

Another hesitation and Tony knew that he would hate whatever Wong had to say next. "Normally they just kill them to rid the world of them. Their words, not mine," Wong hastened to add as if that had been necessary.

"But Stephen?" Pepper asked gently when nothing more was coming.

"Mordo and him have history. _Personal_ history. He probably tried to get him on his side. And we all know just how stubborn Stephen is." Wong looked at the picture again and all of their eyes followed. "If their attempts at coercion don't get them any results… we don't have much time left, I fear."

 _Great._ Tony closed his eyes in an attempt to block everything out. "Please tell me that you have a way to find him." _Before it's too late._

A couple of hours ago he had dreamt of kissing Stephen and making love to him. Now he was praying to get him back alive and that his eye wasn't too badly damaged. He wanted to wrap him up in his stupid Cloak and an armor, hold him and never let him out of his sight again. Stephen was _his_ , damn it! His to cherish, to protect, to…

 _I love him_ , he realized in that second. The real thing. The one he'd been waiting for all his life and there it was, packaged in a gorgeous if damaged body and an even more beautiful and terribly sarcastic mind. And now the universe threatened to take his love away before he ever had the chance to speak about it.

His voice or his face must have betrayed _something_ because all three looked at him with varying degrees of pity and sadness.

"There might be a way," Wong offered hesitantly and Tony took it like the lifeline it was.

"Tell me what to do."

* * *

Stephen stared at his right hand and once again swallowed the ever-present nausea down. He didn't have a concussion, he'd diagnosed ages ago, but that wasn't a comfort because his head and face were killing him, even drowning out the ever-present pain in his hands for once. He took his left hand to gently touch his left cheek one more time and winced at renewed pain which only made it worse. Probably a broken cheekbone. No, scratch the probably. It was broken. His eye was completely swollen shut by now but he was pretty sure that it would be okay if it got the chance to heal. Again.

If.

His hand on the other side… He forced himself to look away.

One of Karl's people had stepped on it after the first hit to his face had thrown him off-guard, followed by being shoved into a wall. He was pretty sure that his cheekbone had been broken when his face smashed into a protruding pipe; it was pure luck that it hadn't hit his eye directly. Then they'd immobilized him on the ground and one of his attackers had stepped on his hand. Slowly and with obvious glee.

The resulting pain had exploded and frozen his mind and body, making him a helpless, crying mess on the ground, unable to even _think_ about defending himself.

The man's cruel and victorious laughter had been cut short when Karl arrived and dispatched him through portal into nothingness. After that he'd crouched down beside Stephen and carefully touched his hand. Something had clattered away just before that but Stephen hadn't seen what it was. His already over-sensitized and damaged nerves had screamed and he'd barely been able to breathe through the renewed pain of Karl's gentle touch.

"I'm sorry that we had to meet like this, my friend," Karl had told him and they'd both known that he didn't only mean the hand. "Are you willing to talk this through now? You have seen what happened in the last few months."

"I've seen you hunting down and maiming and killing innocent people," Stephen had whispered back and had almost blacked out at the pain. Karl had sighed and gotten up.

"We'll take him with us. Prepare the cuffs."

Stephen had known right there and then that this was it. He'd known what Karl was talking about and that there was no way out of it. After seeing the fate of their comrade they were careful while cuffing him but that didn't help in the slightest.

 _I'm sorry, Tony_ , he'd thought as he was roughly dragged back to his feet and temporarily blinded and deafened by a spell. The nausea and dizziness still hit him like an avalanche. _I would have liked to go on that date with you. Should have said yes weeks ago. I shouldn't have made detour to get that bottle of special wine._

It would have been nice to have been touched with tenderness, maybe even kissed and caressed with affection, one last time before his demise.

Instead his body was as bound as his magic and he'd been thrown into a makeshift cell where he could only wait to see what Karl had planned for him.

He forced his gaze away from his hand and to the pile of lifeless red fabric beside him. Karl had assured him that the Cloak was only paralyzed, not permanently harmed.

_"I would never destroy a relic, no matter how.... strange its behavior and whom it chooses to attach itself to. I'll deal with it later but in the meantime, I don't want you to get cold."_

Stephen bit his lip and fumbled around with his damaged right hand until he got a little bit of fabric between his shaking fingers. The slowly and carefully pulled the Cloak closer and tried to inspect it as well as possible in the dim light of his - their - cell.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and stroked the fabric in an attempt to comfort them both. It was unsettling to not get a reaction but continued to pet it with is left hand after wrapping one corner around his right hand to stabilize and get it out of his sight. "You deserve better than this. Than me."

He didn't know if he imagined a tiny shudder going through the Cloak at that or if it was just wishful thinking. He swallowed down the tears of pain and despair that threatened to fall.

He wanted to be back home, he wanted to be in Tony's arms. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare, find the Cloak draped around him and waving at him in greeting. He'd had the chance of getting into Tony's arms and bed and he'd blown it thanks to his damn insecurities. He didn't deserve Tony, he knew that, but right now he wished he had at least the memories of an affair between them to get him through this.

 _You're not getting out of this_ , a voice whispered inside his head and he shuddered. _You're going to die in here and you know it. You can't help Karl and he can't keep you around if you keep refusing him. Simple as that._

The question only was how much he had to suffer through until Karl realized how this must end or he was rescued. Hopefully not too much. It was enough. He just wanted the pain to stop.

He shifted around and hissed when the movement jostled his hand. Damaged nerves or not - it still hurt like a bitch. There would be even more long-term damage now, if - by some miracle - he got out of this. It didn't matter, as long as he could still use magic. And he'd seen that it was possible even without hands. He'd manage, somehow, if given the chance.

He tried to kill the spark of hope still burning inside but it proved to be as stubborn as he himself was.

The door to his cell flew open and Stephen forced himself to blink the pain of the abruptly changed lightning away to look up at Karl.

He tried to appear as calm and collected was possible. "Are you here to talk or to torture me?" He was pleased that his voice sounded nearly normal, despite the fire in his cheek making speech almost impossible. He could power through this.

"Oh Stephen." Karl knelt down before him and gently touched the damaged side of his face. Stephen flinched - not only because of the pain but because it had been so long since he'd been touched with care and tenderness that it was a shock to him. Karl noticed his reaction and let his hand drop with a sad smile.

"Life hasn't been kind to you, my friend."

 _It gave me Tony Stark looking at me as if I'm someone special_ , he thought but he knew better than to say it out loud. Instead he shrugged and hissed when the movement aggravated his hand and head once again. "Neither has it been to you, it seems. Hiding in the ruins of some abandoned warehouse? Really? Couldn't you find something better? Maybe something less cliché?"

"It's isolated and hidden away from all the surveillance technology your new friends have put in orbit around our world. That's all we need. Not only practicing magic openly but collaborating with the Avengers, Stephen? Really? I thought - hoped - that I'd taught you better than that."

This time Stephen resisted the urge to shrug. "It was necessary. And magic is meant to protect the world, not to be some dirty little secret hidden away in the depths of Kamar-Taj. The Ancient One knew that."

"The Ancient One was as misguided as you are." Karl eyed the Cloak with distrust. "You even managed to corrupt a relic, that's a new one I have to admit."

Stephen bristled. "I corrupted nobody. The Cloak chose _me_ , over and over again. I would be dead thrice over without it and I have never forced it to do a single thing against its will."

Karl laughed at that. "You don't even know how it's supposed to work between sorcerer and relic; you're really barely more than a novice. You should have never been entrusted with it. Or the Eye. Which you lost, something unfathomable and against everything we've stood and fought for over thousands of years."

Stephen closed his eyes, exhausted and unwilling to conceded that maybe Karl was right. "I did what I had to do to save us all," he said.

Karl once again touched his face. This time it was the undamaged side and his touch lingered, become almost a caress. "So do I." A deep sigh. "You're still so innocent, you know that? Still believing the lies. Please, Stephen, think this through." He just shook his head and hated himself for leaning a little bit into the gentle contact. "So you won't reconsider? Join us - _me_?" His plea was earnest, Stephen knew that. Karl wanted him at his side, as his friend… maybe even more than that. The potential for that had been there, years ago, before Dormammu. Before Karl left. Before Tony. Before he discovered over millions of timelines that there was only one person who was the right one for him; he didn't deserve Tony, he knew, but still.

Now there was only one he wanted to be touched by and it wasn't Karl.

Stephen didn't even open his eyes but tensed up under the cover of the Cloak in preparation of what was to come. "You know that I can't."

"We would have been so good together." The true meaning behind the words was obvious but Stephen still decided to raise to the bait.

With his eyes still closed, trying to remember Tony smiling at him full of affection and joy at getting his long-desired date, he answered: "Not as good as Tony Stark and I." _Please, forgive me. He doesn't deserve to know about us but I want **somebody** to know._

He didn't need the Eye of Agamotto to see what this would get him. He'd deliberately pushed all of Karl's buttons, determined to get the man to lose his composure to make the inevitable easier on him. He tensed and flinched in anticipation. Still, the slap to his already damaged cheek hurt like hell and Dormammu and getting choked by Thanos all at once and he could taste fresh blood for a split second before his head crashed against the concrete wall and welcome oblivion claimed him.

* * *

With Rhodey and Pepper gone - at Wong's insistence and only after a long battle they didn't have time for - it was just the two of them.

"Why couldn't they stay?"

"Because I don't think they want or need the embarrassment of what I'm going to tell you now. Also, this has to be kept between as few people as possible."

Tony shrugged, despite Wong's obvious discomfort. "They've seen me in pretty much every state of being there can be, including high and almost dead. There's nothing that's going to shock them."

"And seeing you in love?"

The question was blunt but Wong's eyes told a different story. They almost _begged_ him to confirm the implied question.

Tony crossed and uncrossed his arms and tried to squash the impulse to flee to the bar to get a glass of _something_ in his hands. "They know that I like Stephen," he said quietly after a few moments of silence. They had probably known before he himself had realized it. _Love._ He tried the word on again and it still fit in all its painful glory. Typical for him to fall for a literal wizard with a target on his back that was somehow even bigger than the one on his own. Typical for him to fall of the one person who might be even more screwed up in the head than him.

Wong's tense pose relaxed just the tiniest little bit. "Does _he_ know?"

Ah, the million-dollar question. "I don't know. I made it clear that I like him, that I want to spend time with him… he said yes to a date before he left the last time, did you know that?" He smiled at the memory.

"No, I didn't."

Wong's words let the smile die. No, he couldn't have known. Stephen hadn't come home after leaving him, hadn't he? He stepped into portal and emerged somewhere - not the Sanctum - and gotten kidnapped by a bunch of crazy sorcerers who saw him as a threat to their secret way of living or something. Why didn't Stephen just go home, like he told Tony that he would? If he still had to get somewhere Tony would have gone with him; not without questions asked but without hesitation. _Why, Stephen? Why can't you just **talk** to me?_

"So, what's so secret that not even my best friends can hear about it?"

"Because this is my problem. And yours. But we don't need anyone else involved in this mess. There is a chance to locate Stephen using the connection between you."

"Connection? What connection? We like each other. That's all. We haven't even kissed or held hands yet, for heaven's sake!" _Holding hands, really? How old are you again?_ Stephen really brought out the romantic sap in him but the wish had haunted him for a while now. He wanted to cradle Stephen's beautiful, damaged, shaking hands between his, kiss them; wanted Stephen to feel safe enough around him to drop his mask and trust Tony to not hurt him.

"Calm down and _listen_ , Stark," Wong snapped at him and only now did he realize that he'd stared pacing around the moment the door had closed behind Rhodey and Pepper.

"What?" he snapped back.

"Do you love Stephen?"

The words were like an ice-cold shower and forced Tony back into reality. "Yes," he answered without even thinking about it.

"Good. Because Stephen loves you back and that gives us a chance to find him."

Tony laughed at that, bitter and hollow. "The power of love or some crap like that? Sorry, Wong, but I've stopped believing in fairy tales decades ago." Wong's words produced a warm feeling in his stomach but he refused to dwell on it. Later, when he had Stephen back and could see and feel for himself that he would be okay, he kind think about love and where it might lead them. His desire to get his hands on Stephen's body had never been stronger but now there was no trace of lust in it, just the need to protect and comfort.

Wong was unperturbed by his outburst. "There is a ritual we can use to find him." A short pause. "It'll only work if he's still conscious and if the connection between you two is really as strong as I believe it might be."

"Connection between us?"

"When a sorcerer, especially one as powerful as Stephen, falls in love - really falls in love - with another person their magic reaches out and forms a bond with their intended to tie them together. We can use that to find him."

He snorted. "Intended? Bond? You're straying dangerously close to fairytale territory again, Wong." He refused to think about them being connected by magic, he really did. Because if the thought about that he would start screaming and never stop. Stephen. He had to concentrate on Stephen now. Everything else was unimportant.

"Fairytales and myths have their origin in the truth. The Mystic Arts have lots in common with some so-called legends."

Magic. It always came back to magic. Tony hated it but if it could help him - them - to get Stephen back…

"What do I have to do? Sit down, drink some tea and let you chant over me?"

Wong shook his head. "No. Get into your suit. We're going sorcerer hunting."

Oh, good. Something active to do, some revenge to extract. "I won't hesitate if they stand between me and Stephen," Tony warned as the nanites crawled over his body and encased him in their protective embrace.

"Why do you think that I want you to wear your armor? Do I look like I want them to get away?" Wong conjured a portal and Tony shivered despite himself. "The renegades have to be eliminated or the threat will still be there after we've rescued Stephen."

He nodded to the portal and Tony stepped through it after taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. _For Stephen_ , he reminded himself.

He opened his eyes in the library of the Sanctum, just in time to see Wong follow him. The portal closed.

"They've hurt a lot of people over the last few years," he continued as if they hadn't just changed their location via _magic_ and gestured for Tony to sit down. "And many people don't have the luxury of Iron Man being willing to turn the world over to get them back or avenge them." Tony shivered at the implications of 'avenge' and felt sick to his stomach once more. "Get out of that thing again, we don't need it now. I just thought that it would make you feel safer going through the portal."

Tony blushed under the armor but didn't protest and did as he was told. _For Stephen_ , he thought again. Besides, Wong had been right. He was really one of the good ones. And more merciless than Stephen, it seemed.

"And now sit down and listen. We don't have the time for long discussions so just follow my lead and hopefully we'll get to Stephen. Let me deal with the sorcerers and concentrate on finding and protecting Stephen. You have to be his lifeline. Can you do that?"

Everything in Tony screamed to get more back up - Rhodey, Pepper, hell, call Nebula or Carol for some good ass-kicking but he found himself nodding. This was Stephen's and Wong's territory, not theirs. They couldn't afford to involve more people, not with Secretary Ross and his people on a literal witch hunt after seeing only a fraction of what Stephen could do. "Protect Stephen," he repeated dutifully. "Just point me in the right direction and you'll see me protecting him like there's no tomorrow."

That earned him an honest smile. "Good. The idiot needs someone fierce to watch over him." Wong conjured a miniature portal and pulled a book through it. "And now to the magical chanting you love so much, Stark. Let's hope that he's conscious or this won't work and the cuffs don't completely suppress his innate magic. It's our luck that he's stupidly strong in that regard."

Tony once again thought about Stephen's bruised face and didn't even want to imagine the pain he must be in. _We'll get you, baby. Just hold one for a little while longer._

It took him a moment to realize what he'd called Stephen in his mind. It felt _right_. No more dancing around, he promised himself. Fuck dating, he would go into full handholding, asking for a kiss territory as soon as Stephen was coherent enough to give his permission.

_Mine to hold and protect._

* * *

He woke up on the cold concrete floor, his face a blur of agony, the Cloak still draped over him, with the cuffs digging into his abused wrists. Karl was sitting beside him, watching him silently as he struggled back into consciousness. The whole room was spinning like crazy around him despite him lying still on the floor. Great, now he had a concussion too, he was pretty sure. His chances of getting through this were as low as his self-esteem by now.

"Tony Stark, really?" Karl asked as soon as he was sure that Stephen could actually understand him.

Stephen licked his dry lips, hoped against hope for something to drink, swallowed down a mouthful of blood instead and sighed softly. "Tony Stark," he confirmed in a hoarse whisper. Everything hurt, but his face was the worst and even drowned out his right hand.

"I thought you had better standards than let someone like him touch you. A war criminal, _The Merchant of Death_. You are a doctor, Stephen, sworn to protect lives twice over. How could you betray both your callings like that?"

The denial was on his lips but he bit his tongue to keep the words in. It or any sort of explanation was useless and would probably only bring more pain. Best to conserve what little energy he had left and try to hold on for as long as possible. By now Wong would know that he was missing and would have doubtless called Tony for support. Stephen didn't know how but if anyone had a chance of finding him it was those two. He didn't have any hope that they would find more than his body but at least he would be brought back home and not be left to rot here. _I'm sorry._ But it was better to inflict that kind of pain on Tony instead of never-ending almost-hope and no closure.

His silence condemned him only further in Karl's eyes. There was once again a hand gently tracing his damaged cheek, and a tiny bit of magic taking some of the pain away. "We would have been so good together," he repeated. Stephen's right hand spasmed at the words and he needed all his willpower to not gasp and flinch at the sudden stab of even worse pain.

"Maybe." Stephen conceded, trying to keep the threatening tears down. "In another world, where things happened slightly different from this one." _Like you not betraying us all. A world where I never met Tony._

"It's a pity you decided to give yourself to another."

Interesting how Karl seemed to see a relationship between equals but Stephen wasn't in the mood to argue. Besides, it didn't matter. The complicated dance he and Tony had done together over the last few weeks had come to an end before anything concrete could happen. If given the chance he would have given himself over into Tony's safekeeping gladly, and Tony would have done the same in return. He knew that deep down, despite them having never spoken about anything like that. Two equally broken man finding sanctuary with each other. It would have been so nice, like a fairytale.

 _You don't deserve a happy ending_ , the voice of Dormammu reminded him.

 _But Tony does_ , he countered.

"Right there is one of the many reasons why we would never have worked," he said instead. If Karl had ever expected him to be some meek thing that fell into his bed and let himself be led around on an invisible leash… the thought alone would have been funny if it hadn't been so absurd.

"Maybe not." It was Karl's turn to concede the point. "We'll never know now, won't we?"

"No," Stephen confirmed as firmly as he could, knowing that he sealed his death warrant with that word. "Just get it over with, already. Kill me or let me go."

Karl's hand was still on his cheek, his face just above his own. "You know that I can't let you go. You've betrayed all we've ever stood for, you've used magic out in the open and you collaborated with the Avengers. You refuse to repent. For all that you have to die. I'll try to make it as painless as possible for old time's sake. For the future we might have had together. I'm truly sorry, Stephen." The really sad thing was that Stephen knew that the words were sincere. That didn't make them hurt less though.

"Too late for that," Stephen said as yet another, much stronger tingle of magic coursed through his body and he felt himself slip away.

Just before he lost consciousness again, right when Karl pressed a chaste kiss against his forehead, he fancied that he could _feel_ Tony with him, holding him and whispering to him that everything was going to be okay.

"Tony," he whispered and let himself fall into the waiting darkness with a smile. What a nice last gift, having the essence of the man he loved with him as he went.

One corner of the Cloak carefully wound itself around his right wrist and hand. It tried to still the twitching hand as best as it could with its slowly returning strength.

* * *

"What a pity. And what a loss," Mordo said. He watched the gentle rise of Stephen's chest for a while before he stood up again. His work here was done; the spell he'd put on Stephen would slowly and gently slow his metabolism down until it stopped, while keeping him unconscious for the whole time. It was the kindest death he could think of. Despite everything Stephen deserved that much. He'd tried his best, it wasn't his fault that he'd been led astray from the true path from the very beginning. That was yet another of the Ancient One's sins and Karl only hoped that she had to answer for her crimes in the afterlife.

He removed the cuffs and made sure to drape the still motionless Cloak of Levitation carefully around Stephen, as if it were a shroud. In some sense it was. He would not even try to recover the relic later; he'd heard and seen first-hand what the thing was capable of and he had no desire to be the next one it wiped the floor with. It could stay with Stephen or leave after the spell paralyzing it had worn off.

He left the door open as he left the makeshift cell. Wong would find Stephen sooner or later and he his people would be long gone by then. There was no use in hindering his old friend in finding the body.

They both deserved that much at least.

"I'm sorry," he said once again and angrily wiped away a tear before he turned his back and walked away.

It had to happen like this, he told himself over and over again. There had been no other way.

* * *

_Stephen._

Tony smiled as he could _feel_ Stephen, his mind, his soul. Not even the obvious pain his love was in could dim his joy.

_Hold on, we'll get you. It's gonna be okay. Stay strong for me. We're coming._

The connection was lost and Tony's eyes snapped open. "What happened?" he demanded. Wong's grim face confirmed his worst suspicions. "He lost consciousness again? Was it enough? Do you know where we have to go?"

"What could you feel?" Wong interrupted when he took a moment to breathe.

The question calmed him down and he forced himself to _think_ instead of only feel. "Pain. His face hurts, which we already knew because… his hand. Oh God, his right hand. He's in agony and he can't move it anymore." He choked on a sob and Wong put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"We'll find him, Stark. Tony. The spell worked better than I thought it would; it seems you're as much in sync as possible for two people. I can follow his signature to where he is held."

"Another portal?"

"Another portal, maybe more than one."

"He's in bad shape, Wong."

"And he'll probably be even worse by the time we find him. Protect, not avenge, remember. You're supposed to take care of him, not extract revenge on his captors. They are mine. Promise me, Tony."

The switch from 'Stark' to 'Tony' had come the moment Wong realized the true depth of his feelings for Stephen, he realized with shock. The way Wong looked at him had also changed in that very moment, along with the way he spoke to Tony.

 _He's been protecting Stephen all along._ And now he had somehow passed some rite of passage and had been allowed behind the wall. Pity that it took tragedy to achieve that.

"He's hurting so much," he repeated, still feeling the phantom pain in his right wrist. He was holding and rubbing it, he realized only now, and his head was just about killing him. He wouldn't talk about the endless well of despair and loneliness he'd felt from Stephen. He would keep that one a secret and work on that as soon as he had Stephen back.

A portal flared to life in front of him, tinged with blue and violet instead of the usual golden orange. Tony swallowed and took a step back by instinct.

"Then let's bring him home," Wong said and strode through it without glancing back.

Home. To the Sanctum. It was bitter reminder that Stephen resided in a world so far removed from his own that not even medical care was the same anymore. He had so many things to learn, to adjust to. He once again rubbed his aching hand. But first, the compound. Good, old western medicine had to fix his hand before magic and Tony could attempt to fix the rest of Stephen.

"Protect, not avenge," he reminded himself as he activated the nanites and went through the first of Wong's portals with barely a thought. The queasy feeling in his stomach had other causes.

*

A few short minutes later avenging was the very last thing on his mind. Instead he was stumbling through an open door, begging an unforgiving universe that what he was seeing right in front of him wasn't real.

Stephen. Lying on the floor, straight on his back, his head slightly turned to the right, as if being laid out for his own funeral, unnaturally still. The Cloak spread over him and Tony couldn't tell if it was weakly moving of its own accord or if some kind of breeze was doing it instead. He looked oddly peaceful, with his eyes closed and a slight smile on his lips.

The left side of his face was a mess of blood and swollen, bruised skin and there was the bloody gash on his right temple, blood still trickling down to the floor. His right hand rested on his stomach, hidden from view by the Cloak.

He looked dead and Tony could feel his heart stop for a moment. _No, nononono!_

"Stephen!"

He was on his knees beside Stephen, helmet and gauntlets retracted, before the echo of the word had died down. "Please, please, please, baby, be alive. Please, you can't… you were with me only a moment ago. You can't have… you stupid asshole, why didn't you just _stay_?"

He reached out with a shaking hand and put it on Stephen's chest. He was rewarded with the feeling of the gentle rise and fall of his chest. He collapsed and put his forehead on Stephen's shoulder, for a moment too overwhelmed by relief.

_Thank you. Don't leave me. I can't lose you._

He could feel Stephen breathing and his searching fingers found a weak pulse. Stephen was still with him. With the first, immediate, concern out of the way it was time to concentrate on the obvious.

Tony rose up again and swallowed hard against the tears as he took in the damage to Stephen's beautiful face. He didn't want to know but he had to. "FRIDAY?"

"A broken cheekbone and lots of swelling around the eye. Probably some damage to the eye itself. Possible concussion and abrasions but no further injuries to the head."

Which meant he wasn't bleeding internally. Tony felt himself slump in relief for a moment before he carefully touched Stephen's left temple. "His eye?"

"I can't say, Boss. But it doesn't seem to be damaged too badly."

Okay, one thing he could shove on the back-burner to worry about. On to the next. He moved down to Stephen's right hand and carefully tried to move the Cloak away. It helped, a tiny little bit, but not nearly enough for the usually energetic piece of cloth. "What have they done to you? Don't worry, I'll take care of you, too." He took the time to stroke the fabric soothingly for a second or two before concentrating on Stephen again.

Someone had stepped onto his fragile hand. There was no other explanation for the ugly bruising, emphasized by a little bit of blood from where old scars had split open at the impact and it was shaking even worse than usual. Stephen didn't take care good care of his hands, Tony had noticed a while ago. The skin was too dry and angry looking and hadn't taken well to the new abuse.

"Some of the supporting metal pins in his fingers have been bent and one is snapped in half," FRIDAY offered unprompted. "There are also a couple of broken bones."

So, no the Sanctum for a while but the medical wing of the compound and emergency surgery, fuck whatever Wong or Stephen himself wanted. He didn't even dare to look at the ruin of Stephen's hand for longer than a second or two and instead chose to put a handful of nanites over it. They formed a protective barrier immediately, designed to keep hand and wrist as immobilized as possible until some specialists could get to it.

"Get me the best surgeons you can find and bring them to the compound right now. Doesn't matter what you have to do or what it costs. Bribe them, blackmail them, just get them. From another planet for all I care." He held Stephen's arm right above the nanites and stroked the soft skin under his hands. "You're going to get the best treatment available," he promised.

Things had improved in the last few years, since Stephen had thrown his money away in vain desperation, Tony knew. The damage could be repaired, he refused to believe otherwise. Stephen was already limited enough, he couldn't afford to be even more disabled.

 _Disabled._ Funny, Tony had never thought of Stephen like that, thanks to his presence and him being able to do almost everything, despite the shaking and the chronic pain. But looking down at him now all Tony could see was a far too thin and exhausted man with too many responsibilities struggling with too much pain and limitations on a daily basis.

There was a moment of silence that reminded Tony that the best surgeon for a case like this was lying right on front of him. His hate for the cruelty and unfairness of the universe grew just that little bit more.

"Yes, boss," FRIDAY finally confirmed. "I'm on it. Also, his vitals have been going down since your arrival. I can't detect any cause for that since the injuries are severe but not life threatening. I have to conclude that…"

"Fucking _magic_ ," Tony whispered.

"Yes."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and yelled " _Wong_!" as loud as he could. "Kill whoever you have to kill and move your ass here! Magical medical emergency!" His hand found its way to Stephen's throat again, tracking his fading pulse, and he bent down to whisper directly into Stephen's ear. "I know you can hear me, you stupid, stubborn idiot. You don't get to leave me, do you understand? I'll drag you back from the dead kicking and screaming if I have to but you will not die before I could take you out on a date or before we even kissed for heaven's sake. Capisce?"

Wong, to his credit, was with them not even a minute later. "What is it?" he snapped. "I almost had…" His eyes caught up with his mouth and he stared at Tony kneeling beside the motionless Stephen. He took in the tears in Tony's eyes, the makeshift brace around Stephen's hand and wrist and - most importantly - how almost dead Stephen looked.

He was on the floor on Stephen's left side, a hand on his chest and trying to find out what was wrong before he'd even taken his next breath.

"Fuck," he breathed and the way he looked up at Tony with sheer terror in his eyes told Tony everything he hadn't actually wanted to know. Still…

"What have they done to him?"

"Nothing I can't fix," Wong answered flatly. "Just give me time."

"Can me move him?" Tony wanted Stephen in medical care as soon as possible but Wong shook his head.

"Later. First, I have to fix what Mordo has done to him. There'll be time for everything else later." He looked at Stephen's face for a moment.

"It's not too bad," Tony found himself saying. "But his hand…"

Wong put his own hand over Tony's, still on Stephen's arm. "Later. That's the least of his problems right now. First I have to stop his body from shutting down."

Tony shuddered at the plain words and the grim picture they painted. "How can I help?"

"Put your hand here," Wong grabbed his free hand and put it on Stephen's chest, "and let me use your lifeforce to bolster his."

"Take whatever you need." He was willing to give anything. Everything.

"I intend to." But Wong sounded incredibly gentle as he said those words and his touch was almost loving as he positioned Tony as he needed him. One hand under Stephen's head, cushioning him from the cold, hard floor and the other on his chest, right over his heart. "Just concentrate on your feelings for him and how much you want to him to live. I'll do the rest."

A golden mandala appeared over Stephen's body and Tony could feel the magic wash over his body. He shuddered in instinctive fear but forced himself to stay still and keep his hold on Stephen.

Wong's magic felt wonderful, Tony realized after a moment to his great surprise. It was warm and airy, not even distantly related with the cold terror Wanda's invasion of his mind had brought him and which still hadn't faded completely. Instead he felt… loved and whole.

 _'That's how magic's supposed to be. Concentrate on Stephen'_ , Wong told him in his mind. _'All this positive energy and love - push it into him, try to encourage his body to fight back. Give him the strength he needs to pull through. Talk to him, ground him in this life.'_

Talk to him. About what? The weather? The newest code for FRIDAY or maybe the newest magical shields in violet?

_'Tony.'_

_'Yes, yes, I'm talking. Do you hear me talking? I'll talk your ear off.'_

_'If it helps Stephen so be it.'_

What a rousing endorsement.

* * *

"Hey, Stephen, can you hear me?"

Tony. Tony was speaking to him. Tony was _with_ him. Despite the pain still coursing through his body he could feel himself relax as the warm and beloved voice called to him.

"Words, baby, I need words back. Talk to me."

 _Baby?_ he thought and felt Tony's gentle laughter in return.

"You don't like it? Pity. I do."

"No, no, it's okay. Just… unexpected."

More gentle laughter coupled with the feeling of steady fingers brushing through his hair. "You'll get used to it, darling." He could feel Tony getting more serious. "Do you know what's happening?"

It took him a while but he managed to gather his fraying mind and memories together. "Karl," he answered eventually. "Put a spell on me."

This time there was no amusement, only cold rage. "Yeah. And Wong's working on neutralizing that before it kills you."

"Hmm. That's nice."

A soft sigh. "You're not really with me, are you?"

"'s easier to ignore the pain when my mind is away. I put myself into a deep trance a moment before Karl put me under."

"So I'm talking to…"

"The little bit of my mind that's not asleep. Sorry, there's not much there. But it's nice having you here."

"Can you come back out of it?"

"To the pain?"

A long pause. Then, a soft kiss on his right temple. This touch was completely different from Karl's and he could feel the love and care Tony put into the simple gesture. "To me. Wong tells me that you're slipping away despite his best efforts. You have to come back and work with him to save you. He can't do it alone."

"It'll hurt."

"I know, my love, and I'm sorry. But I'll make sure that you'll get the best care available, promise. You're going to be in the best hands as soon as you're stable enough to be moved."

More pain. More surgeries. Another long road of recovery with an uncertain outcome. He was so _tired_ and an end to the pain was in sight. But Tony asked him to turn his back to oblivion and come back. Back to life and to the hurt. Back to the promise of love.

"Will you stay with me?"

"Yes. Yes. Of course. What the hell are you thinking? Even with one percent of your mind present you should know that I'll be there. I'll always be there until you're sick of seeing my face." As if that was even possible. "I've been trying to tell you that for weeks now, you fucking idiot."

Tony would be at his side every step of the way. Tony would never leave him, he could feel the sheer, stubborn determination behind his promise.

It was enough. It had to be. "See you soon." He forced himself awake again and prepared himself to greet the pain like the old acquaintance it was. He searched for and found Wong and joined his fading strength with that of his friend. Upwards, always upwards, toward the light and the agony. To where Tony was waiting for him.

A second later he was screaming, his tears mingling with Tony's as the man held on to him with an iron grip to keep him from thrashing around.

Then, after an eternity of agony, blissful nothingness. The last thing he felt was Wong carefully tying his and Tony's lifeforce together to keep him alive and the sheer, limitless love both men felt for him.

"You deserve this, we both do," Tony reassured him and then… nothing.

* * *

"So I saved his life?"

For the first time ever he saw something approaching a smile on Wong's face. "You helped me saving his life." The correction was gentle as Wong tried to get comfortable in the second chair beside Stephen's bed. The Cloak moved out of the way and settled over Stephen's sleeping body. It was still a little bit more sluggish than usual and obviously tired easily but it was getting better from day to day. Just like it's master.

"Good enough for me," Tony muttered without looking up from his contemplation of Stephen's face. Over the last three weeks the damage to his face had almost completely healed, the swelling and the bruising almost vanished, courtesy of Wong's healing magic. There wouldn't be any scars. He couldn't help with his hand but he could help with that so that Stephen's body could concentrate on the far bigger problem.

"How is he?"

Tony smiled. "So much better. Sleeping right now. The blurriness is almost gone from his vision and he says that it's barely hurting anymore. The doctors are awe-struck and we both have been trying to keep a straight face when they're all confused. He's weeks ahead of schedule, thanks to you." There was still a slight fear that his eye might not recover fully but Stephen was still pretending to be hopeful. He should have been blinded by that pipe, he'd told Tony, and this was already so much better than anticipated.

"Keep silent about the healing magic," Wong said simply. "It's bad enough that you know about it. If word gets out…"

While Wong and his - Stephen's - people had caught up and captured most of Mordo's followers the man himself had escaped. Tony forced himself to not dwell on that fact too often or too long, afraid of the cold rage the built up when he did. Stephen needed him right now and thoughts of vengeance where counterproductive to his recovery. So was time spent away from him to hunt the bastard down. He had to trust Wong to do it for him and act on his behalf. From the cold fury in his voice whenever he spoke about his former friend Wong would not be nearly as merciful as Stephen, in all his pacifist glory, would be.

Tony became somber again. "Yes, yes, I know. Besides, there are enough other problems to keep them occupied."

Wong automatically looked at Stephen's right hand, bandaged and resting on a pillow on his side. "How did the surgery go?"

Tony suppressed the desire to shrug. Instead he put his hand on the bed next to Stephen's bandaged one. He longed to be able to hold his hand but he hesitated to touch him there without having his permission. Not his hands, his biggest vulnerability and source of so much insecurity. "They replaced the broken and bent pins. The new ones are made of adamantium; so something like this," he gently stroked over the bandage, "should never happen again, regardless into what trouble he gets."

"They didn't replace all of them?"

He shook his head. "It was already complicated enough and took them sixteen hours to do that. Also, taking out the intact ones would have caused more damage than just leaving them in."

Stephen had not only helped in planning the surgery, he had actually been the one to make all the decisions. Ultimately it had been his choice to only replace the damaged pins. Watching him argue and explain, making rational decisions even in agony after having refused painkillers to have a clear had, Tony had fallen in love even more with him. Right here was his equal in every sense of the word, including sheer fucking stubbornness.

There was no use arguing with the master of the field, as the other doctors had soon found out. Especially if their sedated patient's astral body was floating above them for the trickier parts, offering unsolicited and brutal critique; basically doing his own surgery and exhausting what little reserves he had left doing it. He had freaked out Tony and the doctors in the process, while Wong had just been amused when he'd been told about it. Afterwards, some very carefully applied magic had taken care of their memories while FRIDAY had dutifully replaced the relevant security footage.

This had been Stephen's second surgery in less than a week. Without Wong's magic and Tony's lifeforce bolstering his strength he would never have made it, they both knew. Tony himself belt barely anything from the energy bleeding away from him; apart from getting tired a little more easily. Wong had assured him that this side effect would fade in time, but that the bond tying them together would remain. If necessary it would be him drawing strength from Stephen in time. Strangely, he'd found his peace with that fact almost immediately. Stephen, so far, didn't know about it but it wouldn't take him long, now that he was awake and coherent for longer and longer stretches of time every day.

"How is the prognosis?"

"Dire, if you don't stop speaking about me as if I'm not here."

"Stephen!" Tony grinned in delight and didn't even try to hide his joy as he watched Stephen slowly open his eyes. "Hey," he whispered when Stephen's finally focused on him. In the dim light of the room they looked green and were the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. The urge to bend over and kiss him once again rose up but Tony beat it down with the ease of long practice. Not yet. Stephen wasn't there yet.

"Welcome back," Wong said warmly but Stephen didn't look away from Tony for even a second.

"Wong," he greeted back, still staring at Tony as if he was the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen. The slight smile on his face would forever be engrained in Tony's memory.

Wong cleared his throat to remind them of his presence but neither of them looked up, too busy staring at each other like a bad rendition of Romeo and Juliet or something. Wong gave up. "I'll leave you two to it. Call me later," were his farewell words.

"You waited," Stephen whispered after Wong had vanished, probably back to the Sanctum.

There where so many possible answers to that but in the end Tony settled for a simple, "I promised." He raised his hand. "May I?"

Stephen nodded and closed his eyes. A soft moan escaped when Tony's fingers first touched his left temple. He left them there for a minute or so before he followed the now invisible path of the cut before he gently cradled Stephen's whole cheek in his hand. Stephen moved his head to rest his head against the palm of his hand.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not much." Not what he'd wanted to hear but better than the alternative, Tony supposed. "Keep touching me. It grounds me."

The softly spoken words made Tony shiver. The fear of Stephen simply slipping away from him, leaving his body - and him - behind still hadn't faded. It probably never would, not after having been forced to witness a fraction of Stephen's constant inner battle against his demons first-hand.

"Where?" he asked and smiled when Stephen looked at him once again and smiled back.

"Wherever you want."

Oh, what an invitation! He'd been waiting for it for so long now. He would have waited for another year if it would have come under better, more pleasant circumstances. "Stephen," he began helplessly and some of his thoughts must have been easy to guess because Stephen's smile turned sad. That wouldn't do.

Frantically searching for something to say to lighten up the somber mood he blurted out the first thing that came into his mind: "I want to kiss you." Fuck, he could feel himself blush like a damn teenager the moment the words had left his mouth. Back to Romeo and Juliet. But with a better end, please.

The sad smiled turned into a happy one and Stephen turned his face a little bit into Tony's palm. He reached up with his left hand and tried to grab on to Tony's left hand but hissed in pain when he twisted his wrist too much.

"Shh, let me." Without giving up his contact with Stephen's face he took his left hand and put it over Stephen's, carefully encircling the thin wrist with his fingers. He could feel the scars and - way more importantly - Stephen's pulse under his fingertips. Stephen relaxed almost immediately and closed his eyes again.

"I wish we could hold hands," he finally said, sounding defeated.

Tony swallowed his tears. _Hold it together!_ he ordered himself. "We will," he forced out eventually.

Stephen closes his eyes in defeat. "Not really. Not like I want to." He moved his hand so that he palm was up. It took only a moment to realize what he wanted and he pressed his own palm against it. Stephen's fingers shook against his own and Tony realized that there was no way he could put his own between them without causing more pain. It was yet another bitter reminder that Stephen was not only temporarily hurt but actually disabled. There was no other word for it, no matter how much he wanted to argue it away, and no matter how well Stephen seemed to deal with it on a day to day basis. He carefully stroked over Stephen's left cheekbone, over the spot where it had been broken. There was only a faint discoloration left and apart from it being too prominent it almost looked like before. Looking up close there was still a hint of red in his left eye, but that too was already fading.

God, Stephen truly was beautiful. Even trapped in a hospital bed, far too thin and recovering from major surgery. Tony couldn't wait to see him healthy and happy, something he never had before he suddenly understood with horror.

Stephen, oblivious to Tony's increasingly dark thoughts, raised his head from Tony's hand and made an impatient gesture. Tony followed the wordless command and helped him to half sit up. He had no idea of that was okay or not but trusted Stephen enough to not protest.

His long fingers closed around Tony's and squeezed weakly; the closest they would ever get to handholding, as Tony had been forced to realize. The new position and slightly altered lightning had changed Stephen's beautiful eyes from green to grey and Tony stared in fascination. Stephen grinned at him. "I thought that you wanted to kiss me," he teased with a laugh. "I'm waiting."

"I've been waiting for even longer," Tony gave back. "But you had to play coy and almost die before we could do this." Still holding on to Stephen's hand he leaned forwards, stopping at the very last moment.

The last step was Stephen's to make. Tony had made his willingness and desire clear for weeks now, now it was Stephen's turn to show that he'd caught up to him. "Douchebag," Stephen whispered, knowing what was going on. But he leaned up, carefully pressing his dry lips against Tony's.

That was all Tony needed. He let go of Stephen's hand to cradle his head with both hands and took command over the kiss. After a second of surprise Stephen surrendered with a soft moan that might have been the hottest sound Tony had heard in his life. He wanted to hear it again. And again.

Stephen smiled into the kiss and did it again before relaxing back against his pillows, leading Tony down with him.

"Enjoy having me like this while it lasts," he whispered minutes later after the kiss had ended.

"Enjoy what, kissing you? Why? Is this a one-time deal? Because in that case I want a refund." Tony knew what Stephen had meant but he'd also noticed how quickly and easily Stephen had given up control and how beautifully he'd relaxed into Tony's hold and followed his gentle lead. There was no way that hadn't been instinctively but there would be more than time to explore that and everything else. They had time, now, thanks to Wong and Stephen's stubborn refusal to be beat down by life and circumstances.

Stephen laughed. "A refund of what? You want a kiss back? You can have that, no need to ask." His smile was happy and radiant and despite the stress of the last few weeks he looked more gorgeous than ever, as if some great weight had been taken from him.

 _Happiness suits you, my love_ , Tony thought and smiled back. The fact that _he_ had managed to bring that wonderful light to Stephen's eyes and make him laugh made him feel giddy and powerful and he reconsidered what he'd originally wanted to say jokingly.

 _My lifeforce_ , had been on Tony's lips but he'd swallowed it down in the very last second. Never. He wouldn't regret their bond, not even if Stephen never spoke a word to him again. They had to talk about it, Tony realized. Right now, before things progressed further.

A relationship of equals, where both parties worked from the same information. The happiness from a moment ago vanished and left behind was a queasy feeling in his stomach and rising panic.

"Tony?" Stephen asked, concerned. "What's wrong? I thought you…"

"I do, I do, I totally do," Tony interrupted. Stephen must never, not even for a second, think that he wasn't desired. He still leaned back to create a little bit of distance between them. Stephen frowned but let him go without a word. But he reached out and grabbed Tony's hand once again, holding on to it with what little strength he could muster.

"What's wrong?"

Simple and straight to the point. Tony swallowed, closed his eyes, and tried to find the necessary words.

"Do you know what Wong did to save your life?" he said eventually, trying to prepare himself for… well, anything, really. From calm acceptance over cold rejection to a screaming match everything was possible. He knew Stephen, yes, and so he knew how fiercely proud and independent the man was. The idea of having been saved by being tied to another human being would be…

"Do you mean the bond?" Stephen asked, confused. "Yes, of course. I can feel it. If I concentrate a little bit I can actually see the energy flowing between us." He looked up, appearing sad and confused. "Can't you? Feel it, at least? It's such a wonderful feeling, tying us together, giving me strength through the operations… I could feel it - _you_ , what you feel for me - even when I was really under, far away and dreaming. You gave me the strength to keep going, to not just allow myself to quietly slip away during surgery."

"Oh," was Tony's eloquent response to that. The idea that Stephen had enough control over his mind and body to will himself to live or die, to make decisions while under _anesthesia_ … No, better not to think about it right now and what it meant that he was apparently the single reason Stephen was alive right now. He forced himself to relax and allowed his tired and hurting body to sit on the edge of Stephen's bed. "You know."

Stephen was still confused. "Of course I know. It could feel it the moment Wong made the connection between our souls." His grip around Tony's hand tightened to an almost painful degree and he looked up and caught Tony with his eyes. There was no escape and looking away was impossible. It must be agony for him but looking up Tony saw nothing but determination on Stephen's face. "Wong's little spell work wouldn't have worked if I hadn't permitted it. And I only did that because I could feel how much you wanted so save me and that you knew what you were getting yourself into." He grimaced. "Mostly anyway."

_Love, you stupid idiot. The word to use is 'love'._

Stephen's hold loosened and he absently stroked over the abused part of Tony's wrist. "Sorry. But how could I refuse that gift? Not when I…" He turned away, suddenly shy and was that a _blush_ on his face?

Despite the shock Tony was charmed. "Hey," he murmured and put his free hand back on Stephen's face to turn it back towards him. "It's okay." He leaned in for another kiss and Stephen met him halfway. Tony gently pressed him back down. "Don't get too excited yet." He needed the reminder, himself. "How's this one doing?" He very carefully put his left hand on Stephen's right arm, far above the surgery incisions.

Stephen swallowed and looked down, something he had avoided doing all along. "Better than the first time round," he said after a moment. "My nerves are more damaged now and I'm better prepared to deal with the pain." He was on barely any painkillers, by his own request. Tony had the sneaking suspicion that Stephen wanted to avoid them as far as possible for the same reason Tony refused to take something most of the time - addiction was lurking just around the corner for both of them.

 _Oh, Stephen._ His heart broke all over again. Everything was so fucking unfair. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's better this way, believe me." Stephen let go of his hand to touch the bandages with trembling fingers. "I'm also in better overall health and in a better place emotionally. It's going to suck but I'm not going to end up homeless on the streets, seriously considering going after one last hit to end it all."

 _What?_ It seemed to become Tony's favorite new word but the warning look Stephen gave him told him that it would be better if he kept his mouth shut. The moment he'd stopped speaking Stephen looked as if he wanted the Time Stone back. Tony could sympathize.

He would unpack that little info dump at some other time, he decided, fighting against his very nature to not push, _push_ , **push** until he got his answers. Not with Stephen, he'd sworn himself. Pushing the man never got him any good results and after feeling first-hand just how broken and hurting his love was he'd promised them both to do better and respect his wishes. Within reason.

Since Stephen obviously didn't want to talk about it Tony reached over, took Stephen's left hand and bent over to press a light kiss against it.

"Whatever you need," he promised, instead of the thousand questions that haunted him and just like that the smile was back on Stephen's face. A little bit insecure and sad but there. Progress. "Whenever you need it."

"I need," Stephen immediately said, "to get out of here." He waved Tony's coming protests away with his free hand, wincing as he did so. "I'll go crazy - crazier - if I have to spent another day in here." He took a deep breath and lowered his head and voice. "Please. I need to get home."

"Stephen," Tony began, helplessly.

"This was the last surgery," Stephen continued, mercilessly. "And that was two days ago. I've been resting since then, gathering my strength, but I need to be back at the Sanctum to really recover. Mediation, more magic - I need to be in a safe environment to do so."

The still sluggish Cloak perked up at the mention of 'home' and they both smiled at and petted it in unison. "Soon," Stephen promised and Tony understood that he had already lost.

The compound wasn't safe, Tony knew. Not with Mordo and Ross' witch hunters still out there and Stephen unable to defend himself properly but far too recovered for it to be explainable. Just like Wong had said; it had been risky enough to accelerate the healing of his face, there was no way they could explain it when Stephen was up and about a few days after major surgery.

Stephen's mind and soul also needed respite and while here only his body had gotten it. Tony wasn't blind enough to not see how attentive and jumpy Stephen had been those last three weeks whenever he'd been conscious enough for it. Wong had also mentioned the need for Stephen to get back to the Sanctum Sanctorum as soon as possible, not only to avoid detection but also to heal and rest properly.

Tony had just hoped to delay that departure for a little bit longer.

"Tomorrow?" he tried to bargain. "That gives me enough time to come up with some bullshit story and for FRIDAY to fake the transfer papers to some very private rehab-facility. "Also, I'd like to spend a little bit more time with you."

Tony had practically lived in Stephen's hospital room over the last weeks; only leaving to shower, change and the meetings that really couldn't be delegated or re-scheduled.

Stephen blinked at him in confusion. "You're not coming with me?" he asked, sounding small and insecure all of a sudden. "I thought…"

_Oh._

"Oh," Tony echoed his thought out loud. "You want that? I thought…"

The Cloak reached up and wound itself around his wrist once again. This time, there was more strength behind it. Great, the sentient outerwear was truly on the road to recovery. Tony petted it absently but with affection.

"You thought what?" Stephen was a split-second faster than him and Tony winced at the prospect at having to answer. "That I'm going back home and forget about this? About you?" He gestured at their still joined hands. "I want you with me, asshole, just not here. I want us _both_ to be safe. You need recovering too, you know?"

"But… I'm not hurt," Tony said, confused.

"Oh, Tony." Stephen let go of his hand, put his own on the back of his neck and pulled him closer until their foreheads touched. "You've been walking wounded for so long that you don't even notice it anymore." There were tears in his eyes and Tony could feel tears in his own. He _hated_ seeing Stephen cry. "I want to bring you into my home to protect you, to give you time to heal." He squeezed Tony's neck, gently. "The world can do without Iron Man for a while, Tony Stark needs a timeout." He sighed. "Just as much as I do. Come home with me. FRIDAY can come too, if you want. We have enough space for her equipment and Wong's been bothering me to upgrade our internet connection for ages."

"Stephen," he tried again, feeling the tears on his face while breathing was becoming almost impossible. There wasn't a single, clear thought in his head as the events of the last few weeks - hell, _years_ \- finally caught up with him for good.

"Shhh." Stephen took him into an one-armed embrace and whispered soothing nothings into his hear as he broke down crying. "I've got you. It's okay, shhh. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize. I'm here. We're safe now."

The Cloak found the strength to wrap itself around them both and they three of them stayed like that for a long time, until FRIDAY announced that Pepper was on her way to check in on them.

* * *

Three weeks later Tony woke up to the sight of Stephen levitating in the air, bathed in sunlight. The sight was breathtaking and Tony smiled before stretching and curling up once again. "Morning," he mumbled, not really expecting an answer, already reaching for this tablet. Stephen spent lots of time meditating these days, to accelerate the healing process and to try to come to terms with all that had happened. Tony still didn't know about most of the sources for Stephen's terrifying nightmares but his kidnapping, comparatively short as it had been, had left deep wounds that where only slowly healing. Very slowly.

Tony didn't mind his long mental absences and found his own kind of peace in watching Stephen mediate, knowing that he was safe and slowly getting better, and tinkering with FRIDAYs new setup and books from Stephen's and Wong's massive library.

Wong had taken one look at them when Tony brought Stephen home, rolled his eyes and helped Tony getting an almost delirious and shaking Stephen into bed.

"Big enough for you or do you want the bedroom next to his?" had been pretty much the whole extent of their conversation and the implicit blessing of their brand-new relationship had taken a ton of worry off Tony.

"I think we'll manage," had been Stephen's answer and looking at the massive island in front of him Tony had to concur. Four people could have easily slept in that monstrosity.

"Are you one for orgies or just a restless sleeper? Just tell me know; I don't mind either way but I want to know what I'm getting myself into."

Wong had snorted and left them to sort themselves out alone.

"My orgy days are in the past; I'm a changed man now." Stephen's open and happy smile tinged with just a touch of mischief had laid a ton of worries to rest. It was so _easy_ with Stephen.

"Are you?" he'd purred back, already making plans.

Stephen had shrugged. "If you can keep me satisfied, that is. I've been told that I'm high maintenance." He had promptly fallen asleep after that lovely comeback, leaving Tony sputtering and without an audience for his wit.

"It's a good thing that I love you," he'd said after a moment, gently arranging the Cloak around Stephen and kissing the tip of his nose. The rest of the afternoon had been spent exploring his new home.

Home.

He supposed the Sanctum was home now. Stephen was here, FRIDAY was here, Peter, Pepper and Rhodey knew where he was to find nowadays and the rest of the world didn't matter. Untypically for both of them they had not really spoken about the new direction their friendship had taken since Stephen was still too busy healing and Tony was doing his best to honor his boundaries.

He'd found a surprisingly good and witty conversation partner in Wong of all people instead.

But Wong had been called back to Kamar-Taj this morning after his guilt over Stephen's apparent fate had driven Karl Mordo to turn himself in. Wong had decided to check out the situation alone before Stephen was allowed to join him. Stephen had given in surprisingly quickly, showing them both that he wasn't ready yet to face his abuser even if he was a former friend. FRIDAY was finally set up in her brand-new server room, Pep and Rhodey were out of the country, Peter was on school trip and Stephen was far away in meditation land.

Tony was bored out of his mind, having moved to a comfortable ottoman under the windows, while absently playing with his stylus and tapping absently on his tablet while staring into space. Thinking. Too much thinking. He didn't know if he hated this Mordo character or if he was supposed to be thankful that his actions had finally pushed them together for real.

His eyes were once again drawn to Stephen. He was still too thin, there was more white in his hair now and his left eye had not completely recovered, despite his and Wong's best efforts. He had an appointment with an actual specialist to discuss further options in two weeks' time since Wong and Tony both had nagged him until he accepted that a sorcerer with compromised sight was a liability out in the field. And Stephen _would_ return to active duty, Tony didn't need an Infinity Stone to see that future.

He hated but understood at the same time. Another tap on the schematics for his newest suit. So would he, he knew. They both wouldn't stop until they were killed or hurt to badly to continue active duty.

There had been no orgies so far, nothing but a few kisses, hand holding and cuddling at night. A few days after coming home a blushing Stephen had confessed to him that he hadn't been with anyone since his accident and that he hadn't much experience with other men. Attracted to them? Yes. But he'd seldom acted on his desires for a lot of reasons; mostly old anxieties and fear for his career. After his accident sex hadn't been on the radar until he'd met Tony.

"Before that there was Christine, of course," he'd said. "I would never have cheated on her."

Having met Christine Tony could understand that sentiment only too well and had promised Stephen to take all the time needed. In truth he was charmed and the fact that Stephen had chosen _him_ made him feel special like no one had managed to do before.

"What are you thinking about?"

While he'd been staring into eternity and thinking about bending Stephen over various pieces of furniture he'd missed Stephen waking up, stretching and coming over to him. He smiled by reflex as he raised his head to look at Stephen. "Hey, welcome back."

"Welcome back yourself," Stephen murmured back and reached out with his right hand to take the stylus out of his grip.

His hand was still shaking, of course, but the grip was a little bit firmer than before, his fine motor-control better. He'd only been out of the bandages for two days but his progress was phenomenal. Now there was only a light compress to cover the deepest incisions around his wrist, and give a little bit of support, but his fingers were bare.

Tony reached out and gently grabbed his arm above the wrist to hold him still. He slowly turned it this way and that way, inspecting the skin and the scars. Red, angry, and still a little bit swollen but well cared for since Tony made sure that Stephen looked after his hands now. In answer, Stephen curled his fingers around his hand as best as he could. That, too, worked better now. Maybe, one day, Stephen's wish of holding hands could become true, at least with the right one.

_Hope springs eternal._

He pressed a light kiss against Stephen's fingers. He'd been given permission to do so the day before and wanted to indulge them both. "You haven't answered my question," Stephen reminded him.

Tony felt himself blush like a teenager. "I've been thinking," he began but broke off, unsure how to proceed.

Stephen, God bless him, could read him like a book, in part thanks to the bond they shared. While it didn't give them telepathy or any real insight into each other's emotions it heightened their understanding of each other one some even deeper level. "Bored out of your mind and thinking about what you'd like to do to me?"

" _With_ you," Tony corrected automatically and let Stephen pull him up and into an embrace.

Stephen chuckled. "And what if _I_ want _you_ to do things to me?" he asked in a barely there whisper, nuzzling Tony's neck and pressing kisses against the skin. "What if I tell you that I've been thinking about the same thing? You bending me over the table over there and…"

"No bending!" Tony protested. "Our first time will be right and proper in this gigantic bed of ours."

A laugh. "Accepted. But there will be bending in the future, right?"

Some tension he hadn't even really noticed anymore fell from him and made him feel light and free for the first time in far too long. "Lots of bending," he confirmed. "For both of us."

"Good," Stephen's voice had become a deep purr, going directly to Tony's cock. "But this first time you'll bend me however you like. I'm your willing subject."

Tony put a hand into Stephen's hair and gently pulled his head back until he could look into his eyes. His pupils were blown wide with arousal, even the left one, and he looked happy and younger than Tony had ever seen him. "Are you sure?" he asked, unwilling to take this breathtaking gift without being absolutely certain that this was what Stephen really wanted.

"I've never been more certain of anything." Stephen put his right hand on the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss that was much more aggressive and far more sexually charged than any they had shared before. "Make me yours," he demanded.

"Well, if you put it that way…"

He got up with a laugh, and, with the help of the Cloak, lifted Stephen into his arms, bridal style.

Stephen sighed in fake annoyance but he put his head on Tony's shoulder without protest and let himself be carried off to bed, blushing like never before.

"I love you," Tony whispered as he laid Stephen down on their bed. Being tied to this man for the rest of his life was the best thing that had ever happened to him, he'd come to realize over the last few days.

Stephen smiled, full of happiness, all the pain forgotten for a moment. "I know," he said after a moment. "Love you too," he added before Tony could snort and voice his protest at being played like that. "And now do something against that." He grabbed Tony's hand and placed it over his erection. "Foreplay's over, time for action now."

"As you wish, my dear." Tony straddled Stephen and made sure to kiss him deeply and dirty enough that words fled that beautiful mind of his and he was too overwhelmed with pleasure to make another stupid remark.

The tactic worked surprisingly well. For a time. Stephen turned out to be as pushy and demanding in bed as he was in every other aspect of his life and Tony loved him even more for it.

*

"Thank you for being my lifeline," Stephen said afterwards, safely cradled in Tony's arms with his right wrist in Tony's careful grasp.

Tony liked to imagine that he could see the bond between them, beautiful in shades of gold and blue.

He tightened his hold, too overwhelmed with love and awe for a snarky comeback. "Likewise," he whispered and pressed a kiss against Stephen's hair.

**Author's Note:**

> Uff. Wow. I hope you enjoyed my longest story so far. It only took about three quarters of a year to so. No, actually this was written in a little bit under a month but I've been _thinking_ about this since last autumn. I would love to hear what you think about it. There is a whole collection of prompts that inspired this and they all can be found [here](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/post/186008397391/lifeline), along with the three Bingo Cards. Thank you so much for reading; you cannot imagine how much it means to me. <3000


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